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Paul Wilson, the former Test fast bowler, has been added to Cricket Australia’s national umpires panel for 2010-11

Cricinfo staff25-May-2010Paul Wilson, the former Test fast bowler, has been added to Cricket Australia’s national umpires panel for 2010-11. The promotion of Wilson, 38, continues Australia’s trend of encouraging former first-class players to join the umpiring ranks.Rod Tucker, who captained Tasmania in the 1990s, has steadily progressed to international level and officiated in his first Tests earlier this year. The former Test seamer Paul Reiffel has also been a project umpire for Cricket Australia for several years and has now stood in three one-day internationals and four Twenty20 internationals.Wilson has had a taste of umpiring state cricket, having been in the middle for two Sheffield Shield games last summer, as well as a handful of limited-overs outings. A hardworking fast man who played one Test and 11 one-day internationals in 1997-98, Wilson has taken the place of his fellow Western Australian Jeff Brookes on the 12-man panel.”Paul Wilson’s elevation to the national umpires panel demonstrates Cricket Australia’s commitment to provide opportunities for past players to continue their involvement in cricket after retirement,” James Sutherland, the CEO of Cricket Australia, said. “Paul deserves his promotion after a number of years on the project panel and we look forward to his continuing development and progress along the umpiring pathway in the coming seasons.”National umpires panel Gerard Abood (NSW), Simon Fry (SA), Geoff Joshua (Vic), Ian Lock (WA), Mick Martell (WA), Bruce Oxenford (Qld), Bob Parry (Vic), Paul Reiffel (Qld), Rod Tucker (NSW), John Ward (Vic), Tony Ward (Vic), Paul Wilson (WA).

Matt Prior made the sixth highest score in Twenty20 history as Sussex Sharks maintained their stranglehold on the South Division with a crushing 53-run win over Glamorgan Dragons at Hove

23-Jun-2010

ScorecardMatt Prior made the sixth highest score in Twenty20 history as Sussex Sharks maintained their stranglehold on the South Division with a crushing 53-run win over Glamorgan Dragons at Hove.Prior, 28, is desperate to win back his place in England’s one-day side after losing out to Craig Kieswetter and strengthened his claims with117 from just 55 balls – matching knocks by Chris Gayle and Andrew Symonds – as Sussex piled up 239 for 5, the third biggest total in this Friends Provident t20 history.It was all too much for the Dragons, although they restored some pride by completing their 20 overs at 186 for 5, but Sussex still claimed their eighth win out of nine so far. Prior and New Zealander Brendon McCullum, who was making his final appearance for the Sharks, put on 33 in 21 balls to get the innings off to a flying start but that was a mere warm-up as Prior began to dismantle the Glamorgan attack.His first 50 runs came off a relatively sedate 30 balls although he got to the milestone with the third of three successive sixes off David Harrison. Prior then went into overdrive without ever resorting to slogging as he found gaps on both sides of the wicket with a mixture of powerful drives and pulls.He went from 52 to 117 in just 25 deliveries, hitting six fours in eight balls at one stage off James Harris and Jim Allenby. In doing so he put on 73 in 42 deliveries for the second wicket with Murray Goodwin and a further 56 in 23 with Dwayne Smith, who contributed just nine to the partnership.Prior brought up only the third Twenty20 century by a Sussex batsman with a four down the ground and when he top-edged an attempted pull off Australian quick Shaun Tait his innings had contained 90 runs in boundaries – 15 fours and five sixes – and he departed to a standing ovation from the 4,000 crowd.If Glamorgan thought their suffering was over they were mistaken as Chris Nash improvised superbly to score 60 not out from just 26 balls with seven fours and three sixes, adding 63 in 27 deliveries with Joe Gatting for the fifth wicket.Dragons skipper Jamie Dalrymple, who had won the toss, used seven bowlers but Tait apart they all suffered with Harris, who conceded 61 in his four wicketless overs, taking the worst punishment. In the reply, opener Mark Cosgrove made 43 off 32 balls and at the end of their powerplay Glamorgan were only four runs behind Sussex’s position at the same point.But after the Australian left-hander holed out to deep mid-wicket in Nash’s only over of off-breaks the Dragons never threatened. Skipper Dalrymple did make an unbeaten 46 but regular wickets – five of the six Sussex bowlers picked up a scalp – meant there was never a meaningful enough partnership to take the batting side close.

Normal services resumed on the fourth day with the bat dominating on a placid pitch, after the Sri Lankan spinners had injected some life in the Test on the third

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya29-Jul-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Suresh Raina became the first Indian batsman in nine years to score a Test century on debut•Associated Press

Normal service resumed on the fourth day with bat dominating ball on a placid pitch, after the Sri Lankan spinners had injected life into the Test on the third. India ensured a draw was inevitable, as they overhauled Sri Lanka’s first-innings score, with Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina adding to an exhaustive list of milestones achieved in this game. Tendulkar eased to his fifth double-century while Raina became the first Indian batsman since Virender Sehwag in 2001 to score a Test century on debut.As Tendulkar and Raina took India past the follow-on target, the proceedings evoked memories of the dull draws these two teams played out during the 1990s. With spread-out fields, a slow pitch and conditions discriminating against the bowlers, Sri Lanka’s triple strike on the third morning proved an aberration.That was evident in the positive approach adopted by Tendulkar and Raina at the outset on the fourth day. Tendulkar, who had been more sparing in his treatment of fuller deliveries amid pressure on day three, resumed his innings with a cover drive off Suraj Randiv. The seamers, while troubling Tendulkar occasionally with well-directed bouncers, were dealt with more harshly. Dammika Prasad, after striking Tendulkar on the helmet, was cracked for three fours through point; Dilhara Fernando, who induced Tendulkar to play an ill-executed upper cut – he had Tendulkar dropped off the same shot the previous day – was at the receiving end of his trademark straight drive.Tendulkar shrugged off a couple of close shaves against Randiv – he padded up to deliveries that straightened but was saved by the bounce – by sweeping effectively against the turn and brought up his double with a paddle down to fine leg.

Smart stats

• India’s score in the second innings of the Test was the 27th time they have passed 500 in the second innings. Only on one occasion (Sydney 2008) have they gone on to lose.

• Sachin Tendulkar’s double-century was his fifth in Tests. It places him joint-fifth on the all time list of players with the most double-hundreds.

• The 256-run stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina was the third highest fifth-wicket partnership for India in Tests and the joint second highest against Sri Lanka.

• Suraj Randiv became only the third bowler to concede more than 200 runs on debut .

• When India passed 600, it became only the fourth instance when teams made greater than 600 runs in the first and second innings of a match.

Raina showed few signs of nerves in his maiden Test appearance, looking confident early in his innings. He didn’t hesitate to step out against the spinners on the third day and began in a similar vein on the fourth, lofting Randiv over long-off. Unlike Tendulkar, Raina played the pitched-up deliveries with more comfort throughout his knock. He played his favourite slog-sweep to dispatch Randiv over midwicket, and brought up his ton with a drive through mid off. The celebration began the moment he connected; he clenched his fists, ran to the other end and soaked in the applause for an achievement that opened up India’s options in their Test middle order. He was beaten by a Mendis legbreak shortly after lunch and spooned an easy catch to short midwicket but only after India had reached safety.The batsmen that followed had plenty of time to adjust to variations in pace as well as frequent changes in length, and runs flowed at a healthy pace. This was on display in the manner that MS Dhoni settled in, stepping out to Mendis on just his fifth ball and pulling Prasad for consecutive boundaries. The spinners were heaved and slogged and Dhoni notched up another fifty.Tillakaratne Dilshan salvaged some pride with a couple of quick wickets. Tendulkar was caught off an inside edge onto the pads, and Harbhajan Singh gifted a catch to midwicket. The resistance, however, continued with Dhoni and Abhimanyu Mithun occupying the crease for 21.4 overs before Dilshan struck again to snare the Indian captain.Kumar Sangakkara kept three close-in catchers for much of the day, hoping the extra bounce would yield something. The seamers had a slip against Tendulkar, an additional leg slip for Raina, as well as a silly point for Dhoni when he was new to the crease. Perhaps Mendis could have come on much earlier than at the stroke of lunch. But their hopes were thwarted by a determined effort from Tendulkar, Raina and Dhoni, who have set up a third Test finale at the P Sara Stadium.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Julien Fountain as the specialist fielding coach for the national side until the end of the 2011 World Cup

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2010The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Julien Fountain as the specialist fielding coach for the national side until the end of the 2011 World Cup. He will begin his stint with the squad after arriving in Dhaka on Thursday.Fountain, who has previously worked as a fielding coach with the England, Pakistan and West Indies teams, looked forward to the prospect of coaching a young side. “I am really looking forward to joining Bangladesh in their search for World Cup 2011 success. Bangladesh are a young side who have proved that they are capable of beating the best sides in the world on their day.”I honestly believe that as one of the host nations, Bangladesh are a really strong contender, and with the right preparation, who knows what they are capable of achieving,” Fountain said.Fountain represented Somerset Under-19s when he was only 15 years old before taking an interest in baseball. He was a part of the British Olympic baseball team before returning to cricket as a coach. He took over as the West Indies fielding coach in 1998 and recently expressed interest in a second stint with the Pakistan team.

Cricket Australia has called on the ICC to commission an independent review on corruption in the sport, in the wake of the allegations of spot-fixing by some Pakistan players

Brydon Coverdale24-Sep-2010Cricket Australia has called on the ICC to commission an independent review on corruption in the sport, in the wake of the allegations of spot-fixing by some Pakistan players. The ICC has started a review of the game’s existing anti-corruption measures but the CA chief executive, James Sutherland, wants a worldwide investigation to be run independent of the ICC.There have been a number of inquiries in the past, including the Condon report in 2001, Qayyum in Pakistan in from 1998-2000, Australia’s O’Regan report in 1999 and the King Commission in South Africa in 2000. However, Sutherland questioned the longevity of such investigations, given the changing nature of cricket and society.”There were a whole lot of recommendations that came through from that,” Sutherland said on Cricket Australia’s website. “How many of those recommendations have been put in place, are they absolutely relevant to this day and age? The world has changed a lot in ten years. We’re in far more of a digital age to where we were before.”All of those things need to be assessed and I don’t think it’s appropriate for them to be assessed by some internal person. I think a highly-credentialed external expert could do a full-blown review around the world – the time is right for that.”In the days that followed this year’s spot-fixing allegations, Malik Mohammad Qayyum, the retired High Court judge in charge of the Pakistan inquiry that led to Salim Malik being banned for life, complained that his findings in the late 1990s were not fully implemented. One of his recommendations was for players’ assets to be examined annually, a process that had not been implemented.Sutherland said he was “shocked and saddened” to hear of the reports that Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif had deliberately bowled no-balls for financial gain during the Lord’s Test against England. However, he said it could be a good thing that cricket administrators would now be forced to act on corruption in the game.”If these charges are proven, we find ourselves in a position where we’ve got clear evidence of international cricket having been corrupted,” Sutherland said. “That in itself, I actually see that as a positive, that it comes out on the table and is clear. It’s positive in a sense that we can’t deny it – we have to face the facts.”With that on the table we can – ‘we’ being cricket administrators around the world and the ICC – can take a serious look at the processes and the controls and the education we’ve put in place in the last few years, where they may have fallen down, where there are ways in which we can improve that.”

An unbeaten century from Alastair Cook made sure Essex avenged their 10-wicket defeat by Yorkshire in the first Clydesdale Bank 40 League match of the season by gaining a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the return fixture at Headingley

04-Sep-2010
Scorecard
An unbeaten century from Alastair Cook made sure Essex avenged their 10-wicket defeat by Yorkshire in the first Clydesdale Bank 40 League match of the season by gaining a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the return fixture at Headingley.Yorkshire were guaranteed a home semi-final tie at Scarborough next Saturday regardless of the result and they have been drawn against Warwickshire, while Essex’s win took them into the last four and their reward is a visit to Taunton to take on Somerset.Chasing a target of 210 on a good batting pitch, Essex looked as if they were well capable of mirroring Yorkshire’s achievement at Chelmsford as Mark Pettini and Cook piled up 161 together for the first wicket. But Pettini then hung out his bat at paceman Ben Sanderson and was caught behind by Gerard Brophy for 82 from 86 deliveries with six fours and two sixes, both of the big hits being scored at the expense of left-arm spinner David Wainwright.Grant Flower was lbw to Wainwright in the following over to bring in Matt Walker, who smacked a breezy 19 before falling lbw to Pyrah just short of the finishing line. There was still sufficient time, however, for Cook to complete an unblemished century of 110 balls with ten fours and a six, the winning boundary then being thumped by Ryan ten Doeschate with 21 balls remaining.A combination of determined bowling, spearheaded by David Masters, and superb wicketkeeping by James Foster restricted Yorkshire to a disappointing 209 for eight after they had been put in to bat. Masters, who bowled a fine opening spell, finished with figures of 4 for 41, including two wickets off consecutive balls, while Foster pulled off a sharp stumping and held on to three catches.The Masters-Foster combination accounted for the first two dismissals, with skipper Andrew Gale out of his crease as Foster whipped off the bails while standing up to the stumps and Adam Lyth then neatly caught behind.Once again Yorkshire’s biggest contribution came from Jacques Rudolph, whose 59 from 68 balls with three fours took him to 755 runs in the competition – putting him two runs ahead of Darren Lehmann, who had held the White Rose record for the number of runs in a season.There was also a finely struck half-century from Brophy, who helped Yorkshire recover from 41 for three through a fourth-wicket stand of 82 with Rudolph which ended when the left-handed opener aimed a cut at Chris Wright and was caught by Foster.Brophy completed his 50 off 64 balls by cutting Ryan ten Doeschate for his third boundary but he was bowled off his pads by the next delivery before Masters chipped in with two in two, bowling Adil Rashid and pinning Pyrah lbw. Yorkshire were helped to a respectable total by Jonathan Bairstow whose two boundaries were both sixes, the first straight driven off Wright and the second achieved by flicking Masters off his legs.Yorkshire skipper Gale said later: “Warwickshire have got a good record and are playing good cricket but we would have taken either them or Essex at Scarborough. “I was not particularly bothered who we would play in the semi-final, I was just glad to get through at Northampton last week.”Ever since I put on a Yorkshire shirt as an 11-year-old I have dreamt of leading the side out at Lord’s and to get there would mean the world to myself and all of the lads who will be giving 110 per cent to get to the final.”I am not too worried about losing today – to win ten games out of 12 is a great effort. I thought 260-270 was a par score but losing three wickets in the first 10 overs put us under a lot of pressure and we didn’t leave our bowlers enough to bowl at.”We will certainly miss Tim Bresnan in the semi-final but I am hopeful that Ajmal Shahzad will be released by England and will be available to to play for us.”

Rest of India continued to dominate against Mumbai, dismissing them for 274 to take a huge first-innings lead

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit03-Oct-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Wasim Jaffer was the only Mumbai batsman to offer some resistance•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rest of India continued to dominate against Mumbai, dismissing them for 274, but chose not to enforce the follow-on and extended their lead to 439 at stumps on the third day in Jaipur. Jaidev Unadkat and Piyush Chawla picked up seven wickets between them, as only Wasim Jaffer resisted for Mumbai with a half-century. There were only two partnerships of any substance for the Ranji Trophy champions – one between Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane for the second wicket, and another one for the ninth wicket between Iqbal Abdulla and Dhawal Kulkarni.Yuvraj Singh came in ahead of S Badrinath at the fall of Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket in the second innings, and survived a few close calls to remain unbeaten on 10.The difference between the two seam attacks was obvious in the morning when Unadkat, Abhimanyu Mithun and a largely erratic Umesh Yadav – all of whom were much quicker than Kulkarni and Usman Malvi – made the Mumbai batsmen hurry their shots.One pacy short delivery from Unadkat made Sushant Marathe top-edge a pull to mid wicket in the fourth over of the day, to provide the initial breakthrough. That brought Rahane – who had made an unbeaten century against the Australians in the tour game in Chandigarh a week ago – to the middle. He dominated the 75-run stand with Jaffer, driving and punching through the off side for boundaries at will. At 103 for 1, and both batsmen going strong, Mumbai looked like they, too, would prosper in good batting conditions. But Rahane, on 41, hit R Ashwin straight to midwicket where Badrinath pulled of a brilliant diving catch.Three overs later, Chawla foxed Abhishek Nayar – who came in ahead of Rohit Sharma – with a googly to claim a simple caught-and-bowled off the leading edge. Four overs later, he bowled Rohit with a delivery that pitched on leg, turned across the face of the bat, and took the off bail. From 103 for 1, Mumbai had slumped to 124 for 4.Jaffer was left to wage a lone battle, getting behind the line and playing late, but driving and lofting when the opportunity presented itself. He scored most of his runs through midwicket and mid-on, but also drove elegantly through extra cover. However, once he was caught at first slip off Chawla after lunch for 71, trying to guide a full delivery to third man, Mumbai were staring at a follow-on situation.Though Abdulla and Kulkarni resisted briefly with a 70-run partnership after Mumbai had collapsed to 200 for 8, Unadkat returned to run through the tail, finishing with 4 for 41. He used the quick short delivery to good effect, getting three of his four wickets through catches off top-edged pulls. Chawla had earlier displayed his entire repertoire, flighting the ball, getting it to turn and bounce, and making judicious use of the googly.Despite the 394-run cushion, Yuvraj chose to bat again and Rest of India raced to 45 off 10.1 overs for the loss of Dhawan, who was out early to a short ball from Kulkarni.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen has suggested that batsman Callum Ferguson has a “big chance” of playing in the first Ashes Test at Brisbane on November 25 after an impressive start to the domestic season

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2010Australia coach Tim Nielsen has suggested that batsman Callum Ferguson has a “big chance” of playing in the first Ashes Test at Brisbane on November 25 after an impressive start to the domestic season.Ferguson cracked 129 off 143 balls in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at Adelaide on Saturday, an innings watched by national selector Greg Chappell. His knock increased the pressure on Test incumbents Mike Hussey and Marcus North, both of whom failed in WA’s first innings of that match.”I think he’s a big chance, runs do the talking, don’t they?” said Nielsen. “I think he’s done a tremendous job. He’s gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years. He had a real breakthrough season two years ago then unfortunately hurt his knee. He’s come back from injury and made runs whenever he’s been given the opportunity.”All he can keep doing is making sure that whenever the opportunity comes he puts his best foot forward and gets runs. There’s plenty of pressure on spots and plenty for the selectors to think about.”Both Hussey and North fell to offspinner Aaron O’Brien, who picked up four wickets as Western Australia were bowled out for 295 in their first innings and forced to follow-on. Hussey, who has scored two Test centuries in almost two years, drove his first ball straight to cover while North, who was dropped before scoring, was bowled for 10 not long afterwards.”It would be nice for him to get some runs, but we can’t panic too much,” Nielsen said of Hussey. “That [a golden duck] is going to happen in the game of cricket. The thing for ‘Huss’ would be to get a couple of really big scores to confirm in his mind that he’s back in form.”Nielsen said North, who has made five centuries from 19 Tests but averages under 38, needed to demonstrate consistency at Test level. “There’s been a lot of talk about Marcus North, for example. He’s made five Test match hundreds now – there is a lot of blokes that play 50 Test matches and don’t make five Test match hundreds.”Every chance these players get is another chance for them to push their own cause for being in that [Test] side. Marcus is coming off a Test match hundred, he played really well in the one-day game against Victoria. That’s one of the things in his favour, when he goes back to the domestic level he plays well and shows that he plays well. The challenge for us and for him is to show he can be consistent at that top level.”

Peter Siddle and his team-mates are basking in Australia’s dramatic turnaround but realise the job of regaining the Ashes is far from complete

Peter English at the WACA18-Dec-2010Peter Siddle and his team-mates are basking in Australia’s dramatic turnaround but realise the job of regaining the Ashes is far from complete. Australia have stormed back into the campaign with two days of excellent work in Perth, and require only five more breakthroughs to draw level at 1-1.England finished at an awful 5 for 81 in their pursuit of a now impossible 391 and Siddle said the locals’ performance had changed the feel of the series. “There was obviously a lot of pressure on us in this match to get a result. There’s still a lot of work to be done but it does make a big change for us.”Shane Watson set up Australia’s second innings with 95 while Michael Hussey’s 116 pushed them to 309. Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris then grabbed two wickets each and the only problem for Australia was a damaged finger for Ricky Ponting when he deflected Jonathan Trott’s edge to Brad Haddin.The fifth wicket came when Paul Collingwood was left to face the last ball after James Anderson, the nightwatchman, turned down a single from the penultimate delivery. Collingwood then edged Harris to third slip, where Steven Smith collected a sharp take. “It was a big point in the game for us to get five wickets at the end of the day,” Siddle said. “It was a massive moment for us.”England’s batsmen have been dominant over the first two games but Australia’s pace quartet has been so strong in this match that Smith and Shane Watson haven’t been used. “We just knew that if we played our best cricket that would put them under a lot of pressure,” Siddle said. “That’s what we’ve shown in this Test match, that we can play some good cricket.”We’ve shown everyone out here, batting and bowling, that we can fight and we can work hard.”

South Africa wrapped up the series 3-0 with two matches still to play with another ruthless performance against Zimbabwe, winning by 157 runs in Franschhoek

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2011
ScorecardSouth Africa wrapped up the series 3-0 with two matches still to play with another ruthless performance against Zimbabwe at the Bridge House School in Franschhoek. In the absence of regular captain Keaton Jennings, who had scored half-centuries in each of the first two matches, the rest of South Africa’s batsmen took up the mantle and took their team to a score of 293. Thereafter South Africa’s spin duo of left-armer Prenelan Subrayen and legspinner Lionel Vaaltyn ran through Zimbabwe’s line-up, taking eight wickets between them as the visitors were bowled out for 136 in 40.3 overs.James Price, who scored 98 in the first match of the series, was the only one of South Africa’s top seven who scored less than 25 as everyone contributed to the total. After Price and his fellow opener Quinton de Kock were out, Regardt Verster and Johan du Preez put together 96 in quick time. The scoring-rate dipped between the 25th and 40th overs, but Vaaltyn’s 38 off 25 balls and captain Shaylin Pillay’s quick-fire 20 picked it up again and South Africa reached the biggest total of the series so far.Zimbabwe were given a brief moment of hope of at least putting up a fight when Godwill Mamhiyo and Kevin Kasuza put together 63 for the second wicket. But Vaaltyn and Subrayen dismantled the rest of their line-up. Vaaltyn struck first, removing Kasuza and then getting two more wickets, and Subrayen ran through the lower-middle order and tail as Zimbabwe surrendered meekly.